BJP MP Kirti Azad who has persistently targeted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over alleged wrongdoings at the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) met Congress President Sonia Gandhi during the UPA tenure and this instigated an investigation by the serious frauds office, Jaitley has said.

In an interview to TOI, the minister said the meeting of minds between the Congress leadership and Azad resulted in a plan to target him. "One member of Parliament wrote to the Congress government, he met Sonia Gandhi. He met Sonia Gandhi and they said we will fix Jaitley," Jaitley said.

Though he did not name Azad, the reference was obvious as the Darbhanga MP has been frequently quoted by AAP and Congress leaders and he is also scheduled to hold a press conference on Sunday to reveal details of irregularities DDCA. Azad has reportedly been warned by the BJP brass not to step out of line but has declared that he will go ahead with his plans.

Elaborating on an alleged Azad-Congress plot, Jaitley said, "So they referred it to the Serious Frauds Office (SFIO). In 2013, the SFIO gave a report saying there are procedural irregularities in the company, no case of fraud is made out. And in any case (there are) members responsible for those procedural lapses. These are compoundable deviations and as far as Jaitley is concerned, he is not responsible. The whole issue ended."

Jaitley also rebutted the AAP charge that his family members were involved in a sports firm that got contracts from the DDCA. "I have no family member who has even a one paise interest in any form of business," he said.

The minister said the old unsubstantiated charges were regurgitated by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after a CBI raid on a key officer threatened to tar his office with the taint of corruption. Apart from the attempt to discredit him, the AAP campaign against the DDCA could result in Delhi losing the right to host as many as 11 fixtures in the men's and women's T-20 World Cup early next year.

"Why rake it up three years later? Because you want to deflect attention. I have a basic point. What is Kejriwal's jurisdiction in this? Or Delhi government's jurisdiction? Companies don't come under state governments. Associated Journals and Young Indian (in the National Herald case) can't be investigated by the Madhya Pradesh government," the minister said.

Saying that AAP has "no qualms over falsehoods", Jaitley said while CBI had at no point raided Kejriwal's office as AAP claimed, there should be no taboos in investigating corruption. "When the official documents of the FIPB were leaking, the finance ministry was searched during my tenure. Can I say my office was searched? The CBI searched the department of industries IIP and the finance ministry. So what's wrong in that if some officers have committed a crime?"